


Wielding the Executioner's Blade

by ralf



Series: Close to Canon [14]
Category: Shadowhunters (TV)
Genre: Canon Divergence, Episode: s02e12 You Are Not Your Own, Gen, M/M
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2018-03-10
Updated: 2018-03-10
Packaged: 2019-03-29 12:50:57
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 830
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/13927485
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/ralf/pseuds/ralf
Summary: Alec looks at him, assesses him, the man who is responsible for hundreds of coldblooded murders and countless other crimes. The man he hates more than anything, for everything he stands for, for everything he is, for everything he did.The greatest enemy of the Shadow World.Or maybe just his body.In the blink of an eye he makes a decision.[Canon Divergence during 2x12.]





	Wielding the Executioner's Blade

**Author's Note:**

> Dialogue between Alec and the Inquisitor before they reach the cell:  
> A: You're gonna execute Valentine right here in the Institute?  
> I: I disabled the security system.  
> A: That's not protocol.  
> I: Mr. Lightwood, either help or go. The choice is yours.
> 
> (The first few direct speeches are taken from the show as well.)

“Put him in the chair.”

Inquisitor Herondale's voice is languid, casual, as if she is in no hurry to see Valentine's extermination.

“Alexander, what's happening?” Valentine asks, fear plain as day on his face, and Alec hesitates, the doubt ascending once again in his chest keeping him rooted to the spot.

The Inquisitor turns her head in his direction and her next word betrays her real feelings.

“Now.” Impatience, pent up anger and hurt, left to fester for decades make it come out like the stroke of a whip.

“No,” Valentine starts pleading as Alec makes his way across the cell. “No, no. Please. Please, don't do this.” He barely speaks above a whisper, desperation emanating from every fiber of his being.

Alec comes to a halt in front of him, watching him intently for a moment, assessing him, the man who is responsible for hundreds of coldblooded murders and countless other crimes. The man he hates more than anything, for everything he stands for, for everything he is, for everything he did. 

The greatest enemy of the Shadow World.

Or maybe just his body.

In the blink of an eye he makes a decision.

He turns around, facing Inquisitor Herondale.

“No.”

The Inquisitor stares at him, her piercing gaze trying to cut through him, to make him wilt and step aside.

“Are you protecting Valentine Morgenstern?”

Alec straightens his back and widens his stance. “I'm upholding the law.”

Inquisitor Herondale blinks, slowly, as if to give him the chance to reconsider what he just said. “Excuse me?”

Alec refuses to be intimidated by this. He's never been more sure of what he's doing. “You said yourself that the request for Valentine's execution was denied. I won't let you execute him without permission.”

The Inquisitor tilts her head a fraction. “You want to see him dead just as much as I do. He tortured your parabatai.” She pauses. “He corrupted countless shadowhunters, he killed hundreds of downworlders.”

Rage shoots through Alec like a jagged blade. She might think she covered it up, but her derisive tone didn't escape him. That she would use the brutal murder of innocents to manipulate him into letting her have her way makes his fingers shake with anger, and he clenches them into fists.

Still, his voice is perfectly steady when he answers. “I know that. But if we betray our principles as soon as personal desires are involved, we're not better than Valentine.”

Inquisitor Herondale lifts her chin, her mouth twisting patronizingly. “I won't be stopped by a lackey.”

Alec keeps all emotion off his face. “With all due respect, Inquisitor, but if you try to go against direct orders from the Clave, I will report you.”

The Inquisitor looks genuinely take aback, clearly not expecting opposition, and it leaves Alec with a defiant edge of satisfaction.

“And who would believe you?” she spits, loosing some of her aloofness. “The word of a disgraced shadowhunter from a disgraced family against the word of a high-ranking Clave Official?”

“You may think you managed to disable the security system, but I assure you with Valentine in our custody I saw to it that surveillance can't be switched off, _Madam Inquisitor._ ”

Inquisitor Herondale's eyes widen in disbelieve. “You dare to threaten me? Just who do you think you are?”

Alec finally lets all the suppressed contempt he's feeling bleed into his voice. “I am Acting Head of this Institute. And I won't let you harm this prisoner.” He nods towards the door. “Now, I politely suggest you leave this cell.”

The Inquisitor's lips tighten with fury and hatred before she turns on her heels and stalks off, an unspoken _This is not over_ hanging in the air.

Alec watches her retreating back and takes a deep breath, partly in relief and partly bracing himself for what is to come.

“You believe me?” Valentine asks, sounding hesitant, hopeful.

Alec clenches his teeth against the ever-present anxious thought simmering in the back of his mind that it's really Magnus, who's trapped in this cell, in this body, paying for crimes committed against his kind.

“I believe in hierarchy. And impulse control,” he answers and turns around. Valentine is looking up at him, his shackled hands clenched together. Alec stares into the sorrowful depth of his dark eyes, searching for an answer, for clarity, anything.

“I don't know if I should believe you,” he continues. “But I know one thing: If you are Magnus, we'll find a way to prove it and to reverse the spell. But if you are Valentine...” Any cautious softness he felt thinking of Magnus vanishes as he fixes the man in front of him. “..then rest assured that you will pay dearly for this and for everything you did to Jace. Over and over again.”

He doesn't wait to see a reaction, instead he turns and leaves the person wearing Valentine's face behind, trying to think of a failsafe way to determine his real identity.

 

 


End file.
